Although water occupies a substantial portion of the Earth's surface, a relatively small portion (approximately about one percent) of this water is fresh water. Of that portion, even less is immediately suitable for human consumption. In most cases, the available fresh water must be recovered and suitably processed in order to eliminate dangerous water borne pathogens that may be present. In most developed nations of the world, water treatment and pumping plants are generally available to recover the water from surface or subterranean sources and to suitably treat the water so that it is safe for human consumption. The water treatment and pumping plant may then provide the suitably treated water to a distribution network so that safe drinking water is supplied to various water consumers over a widespread area.
In contrast, in the developing nations of the world, safe drinking water is typically unavailable due to economic as well as climatic reasons. For example, constructing and maintaining suitable water treatment and pumping plants is not economically obtainable in most cases due to the relatively high cost associated with these plants. Moreover, since many portions of the developing world are typically arid, the only suitable water is available from deep groundwater sources that are relatively expensive to exploit, due to the relatively deep well that must be drilled, and the large pumping plant that is required to extract useable volumes of water. Consequently, most drinking water is locally obtained from any available water source. Typically, relatively shallow groundwaters are extracted from boreholes or shallow wells to provide useable amounts of drinking water. Unfortunately, water obtained from shallow groundwater sources is generally of a low bacteriological quality (e.g., having a relatively high bacteriological concentration).
Accordingly, many persons in the developing world do not have access to adequate amounts of safe drinking water, which has adversely affected the state of public health in these regions. For example, drinking water of substandard quality has significantly contributed to infant mortality in the developing world. According to recent estimates, infant mortality rates in the underdeveloped world range between approximately 160 and 180 deaths per one-thousand live births, as compared with approximately five to seven deaths per one-thousand live births in the developed world. One factor that significantly contributes to the high infant mortality rate in the developing world are the various waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, gastroenteritis and others that are frequently present in drinking water.
There is therefore a distinct need to provide an apparatus and method that provides potable water in sufficient quantities. At present, approximately one in three children on the African continent are affected by drinking contaminated water. As a consequence, more children die due to diarrhea contracted from contaminated drinking water than from any other single cause. Since a child suffering from diarrhea necessarily consumes resources than are not required by ordinary, healthy children. For example, caring for the sick child requires intravenous fluids, sterile set-ups and a nurse and/or physician who can administer them. Sterile intravenous set-ups and nurses and/or physicians to administer them are all too scarce in rural Africa. In severe cases, the child may require a hospital or clinic. This is often very difficult, or even impossible since transporting the sick child through rural areas of African countries may not be possible. Still further, since babies dehydrate so quickly, the child often will die while being transported to the hospital or clinic. Accordingly, in the unlikely event that the child survives by receiving adequate care, the child may become infected again quite soon, if a new source of clean water is not found.
In most of Africa, the primary contaminant in the ground water is bacteria. At present, to obtain relatively uncontaminated water, wells are dug very deep, often to depths of more than 200 feet. The cost associated with establishing deep wells is very high, often in the range of approximately about $20,000 (USD). Moreover, deep wells further require powerful submersible pumps to extract water from the well. Accordingly, large amounts of electrical power are required, which is generally scarce in underdeveloped regions. Suitable submersible pumps further require engineering support to install and maintain the pump, and to make certain that it has an adequate power source to operate the pump. Obviously, the necessary engineering support is generally also unavailable in underdeveloped regions, such as rural Africa.
What is needed in the art are systems and methods for extracting and purifying water so that relatively contaminated water sources may be used to provide useful amounts of safe drinking water.